Page 26 of XOXO

We laughed, but Levi didn’t join in and I immediately felt bad for saying what I had said. What had bothered him?

“I have to finish some work, but let me know if you need anything even if it’s just a phone call,” Levi said standing up. “Miss you.”

“Miss you too, Gomdori. I’ll see you soon,” Ruwon responded.

“Ru, I know you said you didn’t want to, but we can push the vacation back,” I sighed. “We can wait for⁠—”

“No, I’m ready for a vacation and I should have put my foot down when I first met with my manager,” he said, interrupting me. “I missed out on this festival and I will not miss out on our vacation.”

“Ok,” I said, needing to say more, but if I pushed him, he would rebel more. “Go see your mom and then get back to us ok?”

“Yeah, I will, you know I have no choice. I’m just delaying the inevitable if I don’t go to her and I miss her anyway,” he said.

“Go before Levi and I start hearing about it too, from our parents,” I chuckled.

“I’m surprised they haven’t started calling yet,” he sighed, as if their affection annoyed him, but he secretly loved it.

“You know they are all two seconds away from calling us,” Levi raised his voice. “My dad is two seconds from calling me, I can feel it.”

“Yeah, I know the ‘Queens’ will riot,” he chuckled, calling our parents the queens gave us much satisfaction in our teens. “I miss you guys.”

I could feel his exhaustion from here and there was something else I couldn’t quite put my finger on. My mind kept telling me something else was wrong. Maybe something more had happened and he wasn't telling us? My mind scrambled to think on what else he could be handling alone and I didn't like it.

“We miss you too,” Levi and I said together.

“Send me pictures! And I expect to see a video of GIVEON,” he said sternly.

“We will. Get some rest,” I said. “Send me the contract and sleep!”

“I will, thank you for everything,” he said solemnly.

“We would do anything for you,” Levi said, frowning. “You know that, right?”

“Yeah, I do,” he said. “Love you, guys.”

“Love you, too,” Levi and I said together again before I ended the call.

“I don’t like the way he sounds,” Levi said, as I thought the same thing.

We were all weirdly connected like that, picking up on things we thought the others wouldn’t notice.

“Me neither,” I sighed, running my hand down my face over my beard that was getting a little too long. “You think something happened to him in the military?”

“I hope not,” he said thoughtfully. “Is there such a thing as military withdrawals? I know he didn’t go to war, but I’m sure surviving the military has been hard on him.”

“Yeah, I think you’re right. We need to talk to him more often and get him over here,” I said, already coming up with a plan.

“His mom has that handled, but maybe we can talk to your mom and my dad and make sure he comes this way sooner,” he said, pulling out his phone. “You know they will have him on this continent faster than we can.”

I laughed. “Yeah, you're right. He would never say no to them.”

Levi and I got on our phones to make sure Ru didn’t isolate himself anymore.

“Holy shit, that was a good set!” Levi threw his hands up as we left after seeing the third artist at Bailar in Barcelona.

“She was great,” I said, bumping his shoulder, loving this relaxed part of Levi. “Where to next?”

“Major Lazer is on in forty minutes. Bathroom break, drink and we head over?”